Storm & Flood 2005

It seems that dear Gaia has become more and more irascible lately. The past year 2005 was really not a peaceful one. While the catastrophic tsunami around Indian Ocean near the end of 2004 was still haunting us, so many natural disasters followed up to rage over the world throughout the year.

What was even more regretful was the mishap that the underdog of New Orleans, LA were made to endure during and after hurricane Katrina. Even though the United States had always been touted for her liberty, democracy and civilization, the disadvantaged community of New Orleans, when stranded in a stadium, were left unattended to and without any aid or rescue for days. After the whole city of New Orleans were almost wiped out by the storm, there were even worse happening—Many disadvantaged groups were left behind and eventually died from the destructive forces of Katrina; Most policemen deserted their posts, while criminals effectively ruled the city with looting, robberies, raping, etc. Was this not more a factitious disaster than a natural one?

Below are some photos that I collected from the Internet during 2005. In these photos, the governments and the armies of the U.S. and China showed very different characteristics. The striking contrast always lingers in my mind.

Postscript

We observed enormous changes in both China and the world again in the year of 2008.

From the snow storms throughout southern China at the beginning of the year, to the Sichuan earth quake on 12 May, and then the Beijing Olympic Games in August, both the Chinese people and the Chinese government demonstrated to the world how fast changes could take place in this vast land with unanimous efforts from all parts. There was no way any modern western economy, including the almighty United States, could have achieved the same within such a short period of time.

On the other hand, the melamine tainted milk scandal revealed right after the success of Olympic Games, coupled with the numerous food/drug safety scandals earlier on, also unveiled to the world the other face of the Chinese society, albeit an ugly one.

Worse still, the global financial crisis, which originated from Wall Street in U.S. and spread like a tsunami to the rest of the world, also unveiled the ferocious greed of the capitalism ideal in U.S.

History will tell us who the winner(s) is/are that will eventually learn from and grow even beyond all these crises.